DiGiovanni case set for ethics board again

Two residents' complaints spur new hearing.

Updated 1:05 am, Monday, January 7, 2013

Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News

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Deputy City Manager Pat DiGiovanni goes before an ethics review board to examine whether he violated the city ethics code when he served on a committee evaluating Zachry Corporation for a city contract. October 9, 2012. less

Deputy City Manager Pat DiGiovanni goes before an ethics review board to examine whether he violated the city ethics code when he served on a committee evaluating Zachry Corporation for a city contract. October ... more

Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News

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Arthur Downey leads the ethics board, which last year didn’t decide on sanctioning Pat DiGiovanni.

Arthur Downey leads the ethics board, which last year didn’t decide on sanctioning Pat DiGiovanni.

Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News

DiGiovanni case set for ethics board again

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When the city's Ethics Review Board convened in October to scrutinize a conflict-of-interest case involving Deputy City Manager Pat DiGiovanni, the meeting was held at his request in an effort to clear his name.

Today, the board is scheduled to meet again to discuss DiGiovanni's case — but this time, he isn't the one asking for a hearing.

Two San Antonio residents filed formal complaints against DiGiovanni and others, which opens the possibility of sanctions that include reprimands or fines of up to $500.

The chance of punishment is one reason why retiree Rey Rocha filed his complaint.

“I think he should be fined, maybe four or five hundred dollars,” Rocha said of DiGiovanni. “Just to send the message that he didn't get away with it.”

The complaints by Rocha and Michael Cuellar focus on DiGiovanni's role in selecting a partnership last summer that included Zachry Corp. for the city's biggest contract in history: $305 million to renovate the Convention Center.

During that time, DiGiovanni was negotiating the terms of a new job at the nonprofit Centro Partnership with Centro's vice chairman, David Zachry, president and CEO of Zachry Corp. Centro and DiGiovanni share the same goal of revitalizing downtown.

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The ethics board is a panel of residents appointed by the City Council. It ruled in October that DiGiovanni “unknowingly” violated the city's conflict-of-interest provisions. But because DiGiovanni had requested that hearing, the board didn't decide whether to sanction him.

In a letter to the board, DiGiovanni denied the allegations raised in both complaints.

“Although Cuellar's opinions about public integrity are undeniably strong, he has no personal knowledge of anything in his complaints,” wrote DiGiovanni, who no longer works for the city and started his new job Wednesday as Centro's CEO.

Even as a former city employee, DiGiovanni can still be subject to the board's ruling.

Centro board members have not disclosed DiGiovanni's annual pay, but they said it will be slightly higher than his city salary of $210,000.

The ethics board could also discuss whether Zachry, as a contractor, should have reported the conflict in accordance with the city's ethics code.

The rules apply to “any individual or business entity seeking a discretionary contract with the city.” The ethics code says bidders should disclose “any known facts which, reasonably understood, raise a question as to whether any city official would violate” conflict-of-interest provisions by taking an official action related to the contract.

In a past statement, Zachry defended his actions.

“I deeply regret the inferences suggested in this case, but the facts are I did not know Mr. DiGiovanni was a part of the selection committee until after all proposals and pricing had been submitted and I saw him at the oral presentation, and I was not present for the vote approving him for the position at Centro.”

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DiGiovanni and Zachry are not required to attend the ethics board hearing.

Cuellar complained about aspects of the case that the board hasn't yet considered, such as whether DiGiovanni used city time and resources while interviewing for the job at Centro.

For Cuellar, it's hard to say what concerns him most about the case: the conflict itself, or how city officials handled it.

Cuellar said he's disappointed that the ethics board isn't widening its scope to examine the conduct of Mayor Julián Castro, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and Councilman Diego Bernal, who are all board members of Centro Partnership.

“They had an opportunity to recognize the conflict of interest and do something about it,” Cuellar said.

The city's ethics code states that “a city official or employee who has knowledge of a violation of any of the provisions of this Ethics Code shall report this violation.”

The key language in that provision is whether someone “has knowledge of a violation.” In a past interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Sculley insisted that DiGiovanni didn't violate the city's ethics code because he was going to work for Centro — not directly for Zachry at his construction company.

Castro said Cuellar's complaint “has zero merit.” Bernal said he would have no problem testifying but was never asked. “Were I to be asked, I would happily comply,” he said.

Art Downey, chairman of the ethics board, said he couldn't discuss details of pending ethics complaints.

In an email sent to the Express-News last week, Sculley emphasized that she, Castro and Bernal weren't directly involved with Centro's negotiations to hire DiGiovanni.

“Neither the mayor, nor councilman nor I were on the Centro personnel subcommittee that developed the offer to Pat, nor were we informed that a committee was working on an offer until after an offer was presented to Pat,” she wrote.

Centro made its offer to DiGiovanni on July 24, but that was after months of talks that began last spring. A few months before the offer, DiGiovanni assured Zachry in an email that Sculley was aware of his interest in the job.

“Does Sheryl know you are looking at this position or jobs in other cities?” Zachry wrote in an April 1 message to DiGiovanni's city email address. Zachry wondered if Sculley would be unhappy with Centro for hiring DiGiovanni away.

Sculley told the Express-News that she knew DiGiovanni was considering other jobs — but didn't know in April that he was in talks with Centro Partnership.

DiGiovanni was also a finalist for a city manager position in Savannah, Ga.

About a month after the July 24 job offer, a committee overseen by DiGiovanni recommended Zachry's partnership for the Convention Center contract. The City Council awarded the contract Sept 20.

In hindsight, Sculley said, she should have focused on the potential problem. But DiGiovanni's job negotiations were occurring at a busy time at City Hall, when Sculley was dealing with budget hearings and the mayor's Pre-K 4 SA educational initiative.

“It's not an excuse, I'm just saying it's the reality of what we're dealing with,” Sculley said.

Sculley also defended the contract, noting that the construction team of Zachry and Hunt Construction Group scored well in the selection process. even when DiGiovanni's scores were excluded.

“I am not pleased with the optics,” Sculley said. “But there wasn't anything wrong that was done with the process.”